Barack Obama

Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. (born in Nyanza Province, Kenya) and Ann Dunham (born in Wichita, Kansas). Barack Hussein Obama (born August 4, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party.

Obama grew up in culturally diverse surroundings. He spent most of his childhood in the majority-minority U.S. state of Hawaii and lived for four years in Indonesia. Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention while still an Illinois state legislator. Since announcing his candidacy in February 2007, Obama has emphasized ending the Iraq War and implementing universal health care as campaign themes.

As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, Obama co-sponsored the enactment of conventional weapons control and transparency legislation, and made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Obama's parents separated when he was two years old and later divorced. His father went to Harvard University to pursue Ph.D. studies, then returned to Kenya, where he died in an auto accident when the younger Obama was twenty-one years old.

New Ethics Panel 'Not Even Close'

Even as they pass a set of broad lobbying reforms, House Democrats have run into a wall with their consideration of a new internal commission to handle ethics complaints, particularly from outside watchdog groups. Rep. Michael E. Capuano (D-Mass.), who is heading a task force studying the idea of a new panel separate from the House ethics committee, said that he is "not even close" to finishing up his work on the issue and signaled nothing was likely until October or November. As a sidecar to the broad ethics plan, which was approved on an overwhelming 411 to 8 vote Tuesday, some reform-minded House members have been pushing the idea of the new internal commission made up of ethics experts or even former members to vet complaints from outside groups or possibly initiate the early stages of an investigation based on media reports. The proposal would set up a process

washingtonpost.com Wed, 01 Aug 2007 14:11:02 EDT

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/08/01/BL2007080101331.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
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